What is the one single thing that has helped your shooting?

[gonefishing600]

If you had to narrow it down to one thing, what would you say has made the biggest impact on your shooting?

For me, it would be adjusting my draw weight down to a more comfortable weight. In the beginning, I was caught up in that macho thing, and was shooting bows in the 60 and 70# range, which was really to heavy for me. I could shoot them, but after months of practice, my accuracy wasn't really progressing like it should.

Once I realized the problem, I had a hard time accepting it, because I had several thousand dollars tied up in bows and arrows, and also admitting to myself I had made a huge error in judgment. When I did finally did accept it, and realized I had to make a big adjustment, I sold all my bows and arrows, and started all over.

Now my bows are down between 45 and 50#, and it has made a tremendous difference in my shooting. I had to buy new arrows, and retune them to my new bows, but now due to my efforts, I became twice as good at tuning arrows to my draw weight as before.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Green]

What has made the biggest impact?  The qualified expert members that help folks in this forum.

[McDave]

Learning to self-diagnose the errors I make.  I still make the same errors, but it is so nice to finally be able to say to myself, "Oops, I'll bet I cupped my string hand on that one," or "I must have dropped my bow arm," or "I didn't keep pulling through the shot," and have that actually solve the problem rather than just shooting bad shot after bad shot and wondering why.

[reddogge]

Using a formaster to learn what fully engaging the back muscles felt like.

[Jock Whisky]

Back tension. I still get poor shots but the good ones are really good. And I know what I did wrong on the bad shots.

JW

[njloco]

I'd have to go with Green and McDave.

[JINKSTER]

"If you had to narrow it down to one thing, what would you say has made the biggest impact on your shooting?

Keeping my mind open enough to gain a working understanding of instinctive aiming and the willingness to give it a fair chance only to discover it actually works..for me..and not to think my way through the shot..but to "FEEL" my way through the shot...consistant form is up to me..where my arrow strikes is up to my instincts...as long as "I" dont interfer.  

[JINKSTER]

Originally posted by Green:
What has made the biggest impact?  The qualified expert members that help folks in this forum.

yep..much better answer than mine.  

and?..THANKS ALL!  

[RedShaft]

over coming target panic and being able to control my shot. and having a bow i can handle weight wise.

[Bowtie]

Reducing the poundage.  I'm no spring chicken anymore, and have discovered that 45 lb. bows are perfect! What surprised me is that just reducing the poundage a few pounds, made a world of difference.

[pumatrax]

glasses

[Aggieland]

I'm pretty new to shooting trad but The biggest thing that has helped me and at least doubled my accuracy quickly, was learning to anchor and then touch my nose to the feather like what some on here have said is what Rick Welch teaches. It made me shoot much much better.

[Flingblade]

Joel Turners and Jay Kidwells segments from MBB4.

[JamesKerr]

My biggest thing was when I started using the push release and pulling through with back tension.

[hookster]

Tradgang shooters forum, Terry"s clock and Moebow's videos.

[zetabow]

Not giving up when my shooting isn't at it's best

[Green]

After my post for the appreciation of the members and Terry who help so much on here I think the single biggest factor was asking for help.  After 42 years of shooting "uncoached", I wanted to get better.....much better.  Terry, Arne, and then Javi's coaching "in person" helped to make that happen.  

Sure wish I hadn't waited all these years, but when I had to put my bows away in the late 90's, resources like TG and the Shooter's Forum weren't available yet.

[ishoot4thrills]

Reading and applying what I read in Byron Ferguson's book, "Become the Arrow". That was the turning point of my trad archery shooting experience. In a few short weeks after reading that book, my shooting improved dramatically. Then, I continued to improve even more after joining and reading posts on Tradgang.

[Okie man]

Arne's rotational draw video, MBB 3, and little tidbits from the Howard Hill thread have helped me a  lot. I really wasn't using back tension until I began to use the rotational draw technique. Larry Yien and Rod's part of MBB also have lots of good info. The Hill thread had some pointers on grip with the Hill style bow. All of these together have greatly improved my shooting and I appreciate everyone who helps here on the shooters forum.

[BobCo 1965]

Originally posted by gonefishing600:
If you had to narrow it down to one thing, what would you say has made the biggest impact on your shooting?

I would say my coach/mentor.